New
Jersey Hunger Prevention Advisory Committee History

The
Hunger Prevention Advisory Committee was created through the New Jersey Hunger
Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program Act, during November 2000, and was
allocated an appropriation of $5 million in unexpended TANF funds.

The
Committee includes representatives from the Departments of Agriculture, Human
Services, and Community Affairs, and 10 public members appointed by the
Governor. The public members include two representatives of emergency food
programs, two representatives of programs serving homeless individuals, the
Executive Director of the County Welfare Directors Association of New Jersey,
the Municipal Welfare Association of New Jersey and the Association for
Children of New Jersey; a nutritionist, and two members of the public who are
knowledgeable about emergency food programs.

The Act
specifies the Department of Human Services (DHS) shall contract with Rutgers
University , for up to $250,000 to conduct a statewide needs assessment to:

Identify and quantify, at all steps in the State's food delivery system,
wholesome and nutritious food that goes to waste before it can be made
available to those in need of such food;

Identify and quantify the need for emergency or supplemental feeding for
families and individuals in the State;

Identify strategies and structures for minimizing spoilage of food resources;

Develop a fiscally judicious plan to secure food from loss to deterioration or
waste and to transport and apportion that food to emergency feeding programs
throughout the State;

Develop strategies for behaviorally focused educational outreach with at-risk
families and individuals; and

DHS
contracted with Rutgers University for the study during July 2002. A
subcommittee was established to assist in guiding and supporting the Rutgers
study and looking at service gaps. The 400 page study entitled Improving Food
Security for New Jersey Families: Identifying Food Source, Need, and Tools for
Connecting was completed during the fall of 2005.

The
Hunger Prevention Advisory Committee, through its Food Security subcommittee,
created this website to fulfill the primary goal of nutrition education. The
website, which is known as www.endhungernj.net
will increase clients' access to hunger related resources and nutrition
education materials including:

Given
the need for food, $600,000 in funding was distributed to the six regional food
banks during the fall of 2002 for the purchase and distribution of nutritious
food for eligible New Jersey families in need. An additional $1.5 million for
food was distributed through this same process during the fall of 2003. In
addition, the Department of Human Services allocated $90,000 to the Department
of Agriculture for the purchase of fruits and vegetables through the Gleening
Program. This program harvests fruits and vegetables that would otherwise die
on the vine. An additional $500,000 went to the Department of Agriculture to
support emergency feeding organizations ($125,000 for each of four years).

During
January 2005, $500,000 was distributed to the six regional food banks as the
number of families visiting emergency food providers was increasing. An
additional $1 million was distributed through the same process during November
2005. At the time, emergency food providers were experiencing a 50-70% drop in
donations, caused by donor fatigue following the numerous hurricanes including
Katrina and Rita that hit the southern coastal region of the United States .

The
committee has identified 12 priority areas of focus, which include:

Food

Establish a line item in the budget or a funding strategy (license plates, tax
return check-off) or other mechanism to subsidize EFP access to more high
quality foods. According to the 2005 nutrient analysis provided by food
pantries and soup kitchens, the EFP most lacked calcium rich foods (including
dairy alternatives) and fresh fruits and vegetables for their clientele.
Funding under the 2000 NJ Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program
Act will be exhausted within FY '07.

Infrastructure

Strategies need to be developed to establish more soup kitchens. There are far
fewer soup kitchens than food pantries in the state. For the lowest income
populations, soup kitchens are in greater need as the homeless, for example,
have no place to store or cook food resources. Gloucester County does not have
a soup kitchen. Other areas in the state need additional sites to meet the
growing needs of families with small children. In addition, service hours of
existing providers need to expand and include evening hours and weekends so
working poor families could access services.

Volunteer Recruitment/Retention Strategies. The emergency food providers which
include soup kitchens, food pantries and shelters use volunteers to "staff"
their agencies. Strategies need to be developed to assist in recruiting more
volunteers, retaining those volunteers, reimbursing volunteers for their
expenses (travel reimbursements for delivering food, etc) and rewarding
volunteers.

Outreach

Develop literature, in various languages, that explains what soup kitchens and
food pantries are, and where clients could access such services. This
literature could be distributed in municipal and county welfare offices,
Community Action Agencies, Women Infant's and Children (WIC) sites and other
community-based locations to meet the needs of food insecure New Jerseyans who
don't know what food pantries and soup kitchens are and how they could be
accessed.

Encourage participation of low-income and food insecure children in free and
reduced price school meal and summer feeding programs. Explore waivers to ease
regulations for schools in New Jersey to more easily serve food insecure
children.

Create a Hunger related website that will include information on food banks,
soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, (that want to be publicly listed);
nutrition education materials and recipes for EFP clients; foster
communication, strategic planning, best practices and training for EFP
operators; describe/define the different kinds of emergency food and related
services that are available including soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters,
WIC, WIC Authorized Farm Markets, Food Stamps, County Welfare Offices,
Municipal Welfare Offices, and other social service providers, free and reduced
price school breakfast and lunch programs, nutrition education; provide
electronic links to relevant sites and literature that may be of interest to
New Jersey Emergency Food Providers and their clients; link with NJ Transit
site for bus schedules, create GIS mapping of EFP sites; link to 211 call
center; provide links to information fact sheets on dietary controlled diseases
such as blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol, to name a few. [Note: this
recommendation is currently being implemented. The website will be known as www.endhungernj.net; and should be
available by mid-2006.]

Access

Many food pantries and soup kitchens do not have a computer or internet access
to obtain nutritional information to better assist their clients. Other
facilities have access to computer and internet hook-up through their parent
organizations (agencies, churches, etc), although they are not readily
accessible on their premises. Strategies need to be developed to acquire and/or
refurbish computers and obtain internet access for food pantries and soup
kitchens so they could access nutrition education information, best practices,
and encourage communication between EFPs.

Many EFPs struggle with vehicles that are in poor condition, borrowed, and not
regularly available, and/or are not large enough. Some EFPs have no vehicles at
all and rely on their volunteers vehicles to haul food from the food banks
and/or to their home-bound clients. Some have to turn away food due to
transportation difficulties. Develop strategies that would help EFPs address
their transportation concerns.

EFPs have challenges in accessing cold food storage especially for high quality
foods. Large-scale refrigerators and freezers are usually in short supply and
yet much needed to warehouse large donations and food bank purchases when they
become available.

Support
Federal Feeding Programs

Encourage more farm retailers to participate and to locate markets near WIC
offices.

Work with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, farmers' market leaders,
and farmers to realize the capacity of farmers' market retailers to use
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) technology to accept Food Stamps.

Train EFP volunteers on the Food Stamp Screening Tool application so they can
assist their clientele in determining their eligibility for benefits.